Lying to Oneself
by xhellogoodbyegirl116x
Summary: Troy is set to marry Gabriella when she takes him to a gay strip club, doubting his sexuality. He is aroused by the main act and is seen by Gabriella. However, that's not all he has to worry about. How about the guy being Ryan Evans? SLASH.TRYAN


**_So yeah, not exactly like me to write something like this._**

a. I've never claimed to like slash, read it, or have any interest in writing it.  
b. The same thing - only with High School Musical.

But suddenly, I'm on some sort of slash high. Push came to shove, and I was watching a slash video on YouTube where someone mentioned Tryan. I sat there for a minute, thinking until I realized that this couple is perfect.

I thought of this and wrote it in like twenty minutes, so bare with me. It's nothing amazing. But I like it, and it accomplished what I needed to. Yay. Hope you like it and will come back for more!

* * *

"Exactly why are we at a gay strip club?" Troy asked, scratching the back of his head. Gabriella had dragged him here, claiming that tonight would be 'amazing', so he figured that they'd be off to a club or a nice restaurant. Not in a million years did he expect to find himself in the line outside of 'Ram Rod' along with dozens of other men, who were making him very uncomfortable as they began to look him up and down.

"You don't have any curiosity about a place like this? After we're married, we can never do something like this. Besides, one of my old friends works here and begged me to come see him, so I had to oblige. It'll be great," she said, grabbing onto his arm. She pulled him towards the front of the line, ignoring the catcalls and whistles from the back of the line. Suddenly, Troy realized that they hadn't been meant for her.

When they reached the bouncer, Gabriella whispered something into his ear. He smiled and nodded "Really? I never would've thought. You go right on in then honey." He pulled back the velvet rope and let them in.

Gabriella squealed in excitement, clutching Troy's hand as the two went through the heavy black door. Thumping bass music greeting them as they walked in as the smell of sweat, cologne, and vodka rushed to meet them. The walls were black with neon paint splattered all over them. The floor had lights in it that would randomly go off. In the air were cages suspended in which men danced, encouraged by the crowd. Dead in the center of the room was a stage-like area, black like the walls. A silver pole stood right in the middle.

"Jeez, you look terrified, Troy. Come on, it's just a regular club. I'll go get something to drink. You go sit down and try not to scare anyone," she prodded, pointing to a table in the front area of the room.

As Troy nodded, beginning to feel a bit nauseous, Gabriella started to feel guilty. She knew she should have lied to why she took Troy here, but she had to. They were getting married in only two months…and she had doubts. Concerning his sexuality. It was nothing huge – just little gestures and motions that made her stop. She called up her friend, the only one she could think to, and asked what she should do. He told her to bring him in and judge his reaction. If there was none, she had nothing to worry about. If there was…worry about it when there was. He was the best at what he did, and he knew it.

She returned to the table. She slid in next to Troy, causing him to jump a half a foot. "Oh God, you scared me." He placed a hand on his chest, trying to calm his breathing. He ruffled his hair a bit, trying to become a bit more relaxed.

She rolled her eyes, pushing the martini to him. "Wow. What a man." It was things like this, when he would at feminine, or when he would act attracted to males that scared her.

"So, who is this friend of yours? Have I ever met him?" Troy asked, raising an eyebrow. He tried to ignore the men that were hooting from above him.

Gabriella opened her mouth, but stopped as the lights began to dim around her. "Oh! This must be him!" she said clapping her hands together. She exhaled in relief, happy she was able to ignore his question.

The lights in the room went dark as the lights in the floor began to flash wild colors. Then, everything went black.

"Welcome to Ram Rod. Now, for the moment you've all been waiting for. We know just what you want. He's the best of the best – the only headliner we've had for the past eight months. The one, the only, the incomparable – Max Fantastik!!"

Gabriella began to cheer wildly, so Troy started to clap as well. The light flashed on, revealing a silhouette onstage. Then, the lights around the stage slowly came on, showing more and more of the mystery man. As they did, Troy found himself leaning forward in his seat, trying to get a closer look.

He had his back to the audience, but Troy could easily see that he was toned and slightly muscular. The men around him began to go wild. Troy wanted to do the same and had no idea why. He bit his lip, chewing heavily on it. It was the only way he could keep himself from screaming along with them.

Heavy alternative rock music began to thump out of speakers. Max turned around, grinning deviously. His eyes scanned the audience wildly. The moment he spun around, Troy was captivated. Max wasn't his type, especially considering he was a guy, but he was gorgeous.

He had thick black hair that flopped around messily as he swung around the pole, laughing calmly. He wore dark jeans and a studded belt with a sleeveless black shirt that seemed to be made for him, accentuating everything perfectly. But the thing that was the most amazing was his eyes. Despite the thick black line of eyeliner that was smudged around his eyes, it was still possible to see how clear is blue-green eyes were.

He backed away from the pole, grabbing onto the belt he had. He unclasped it, swinging his head with the music as he did. In a slow movement, the belt was off and over his head, swinging around. He held it up like a prize, yelling as he did, and the men in the audience screamed.

Max ran up to the pole again, pulling the belt around it highly. Gripping on to it tightly, he pulled himself off the ground and had flipped upside down. He spun himself around a few times to the point where he was looking directly at the audience.

Troy felt himself smiling. Absentmindedly, he found his hand skimming across his thigh until it was right over the bulge in his slacks. He unzipped his zipper and slid his hand in. He sat that way for a while until he realized what he was doing. But of course, this hadn't been unseen by Gabriella.

Max was now half-laying on the stage, half-wrapped around the pole. His legs were entwined around the pole as his hips still rocked in motion with the music. Slowly, he grabbed the hem of his shirt, playing around with it. He then arched his back, and ripped it off, throwing it aside.

He pulled himself to his feet and gripped the pole, his lean hips swiftly rocking into it. Troy tried to shut his eyes. _'No, Troy. Don't picture that. You don't want to be the pole. You want to be anything but that.'_ But before he knew it, his eyes were open, only to see him still doing it.

The music began to die out, and slowly came to a close. As it did, the light simultaneously went off. When they came back on, the stage was bare, as if Max had never been there.

Troy exhaled for what felt like the first time in the past 10 or so minutes. Gabriella continued to cheer and scream, but Troy felt like he couldn't move. He was covered in a thin layer of sweat, while all the blood in his upper body had taken a trip southward.

Gabriella looked at him. She took a deep breath, ignoring the slightly sweaty, messy look she had seen multiple times from him after a long night of passion. "Come on, I want you to meet Max."

Troy tried to protest, but Gabriella grabbed his arms, pulling him along. Troy rolled his eyes. She had quite a habit of that. When they reached the backstage door, she went into her usually act: whispering into the guy's ear, smiling, laughing, then nodding, and finally pulling Troy through the door.

When they walked through the door, Troy walked with his upper body jutting out, trying to compensate and make it less obvious. What he didn't realize was that the men who were in this area that slightly resembled the backstage of their high school were too preoccupied with themselves to even realize him.

They finally made it to the back where Max stood in a slim white t-shirt and navy gym shorts now. Troy quickly turned his eyes away, trying to ignore his body's reaction.

"Gabriella!" he called happily, running over to her and enveloping her in a hug. "Oh, I haven't seen you in such a long time." Troy stood there awkwardly as the two embraced.

"Oh, it's been too long!" she gushed, pulling away. Looking at Troy, who simply watched the two, she said to Max, "You remember the stories about Troy, of course? My fiancée?"

Max furrowed his eyebrows. "Yeah, I remember. Troy Bolton. I've heard of you. You're a basketball player." He stuck out his hand to Troy.

Troy slowly accepted it. "Really? How come I've never heard of you? You seem kind of familiar."

Max looked at bit surprised at this. He began to stutter out some answers when Gabriella quickly intervened. "Troy, I have to go make a call to Taylor about tomorrow's fittings quickly. Why don't you and Max get to know each other better?" Troy slowly nodded. Gabriella placed a kiss on his cheek before scurrying away.

"You play basketball?" Max asked, flashing him a perfect smile. He slipped off the leather cuffs and studded bracelets he'd been wearing, dropping them into a drawer.

Troy shrugged, smiling. "I did in high school. Now it's more of a past time. It's more to stay in shape now. Which, if you don't mind me asking, how do you? Stay in shape?"

Max chuckled. "Yoga. Pilates. Running. Just some stuff here and there. I'm not the type of guy who like routines. I'm very…spontaneous. Like my stage name. Max Fantastik, I guess you would say." Troy nodded, smiling back. There was a moment of silence before Max asked "When is the wedding?"

"Oh. Uh, two months from this Saturday actually," Troy said, in a voice that was less than enthused.

Max raised his eyebrow, grabbing the clothes that laid out on his chair.. "You don't seem very excited. You want to get married, don't you?"

Troy nodded. "Of course I do. I…love Gabriella."

Max sighed, rolling his eyes, starting to fold the clothes. "Will you just stop lying to me? She's not here, so you can tell me the truth."

Troy was now officially confused. "I don't understand. What do you mean? I am telling you the truth."

Max turned back to his vanity and dipped a cotton ball in make-up remover. He motion to Troy's erect dick. "If you're so in love with Gabriella, why did you enjoy the performance so much?" A smug smile, came across his face as he started to wipe away the makeup.

Troy felt himself become beet red. "Wha – I don't – How?"

Max's smile turned into a sweeter one. He dropped the blackened cotton ball into the garbage pail. "I understand. I just know how to respond to these things. I work at a gay strip club. What else would I pay attention to? You know? But the important thing is that you need to tell her the truth, whatever the fuck it is."

Troy shrugged. "I never thought about it till…tonight actually. You really put things into perspective for me," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

Max laughed, grabbing a towel from a pile. "Finally! I turned a straight man gay! I knew it would happen eventually!"

Troy laughed. "So why do you do this? I mean, you don't really strip, even. Why work here if you don't do it?"

Max shrugged, wiping his face. "It makes me feel good. It's like being a performer. Why give away everything at once? I don't call myself a stripper. I call myself a pleaser. The first night I did went on, eight months ago, I didn't even remove any of my clothing. They went wild. Now, I'm the only one here who hasn't gotten naked on stage, yet I'm the one people come for. It's all about knowing when to do things."

Troy opened his mouth to say something, but he looked strangely at the black on the towel. "Wow, what's that?"

Max froze, looking down at it. He laughed nervously, grabbing up at his hair. "Oh, uh, that's the – you're gonna think I'm crazy – the shoe polish. I use it as part of my act. Black isn't my true hair color."

He looked at the small blonde patch that was now visible He was so familiar, yet he couldn't put his finger on who he was.

The way he spoke. The way he acted. His body. His hair. His eyes.

Gabriella's friend.

Gabriella's friend.

_Gabriella's friend._

Troy gasped. No. Never in a million years. It couldn't be happening. "No. You can't possibly. You – me – you're…you're…"

Max frowned uneasily. He ran his hand through his black and blond hair. "Sorry you had to find out like this. Gab just wanted to come here. You and I were never supposed to talk," he muttered quietly.

Troy felt like he was drowning on dry land. "…Ryan."


End file.
